Google has released the findings of a hefty travel study this week - the results of which are being plugged with a plea to the industry to up its game with consumers on the web.

The results range from the inevitable "well, obviously" to some pretty important data which supports the idea that the consumers are really beginning to shift the way they are searching and interacting with online travel brands.

Unveiling the study at the WebinTravel conference in Singapore, Bambos Kaisharis (Google's head of travel for South East Asia) says the industry now needs to "make it simple, make it personal, make it mobile" when trying to attract, convert and retain travel customers.

The results were captured from 11,000 leisure travellers from 11 countries in Asia during July this year.

At the "obviously" end of the study (primarily because it was carried out online):

• 83% use the web as part of their planning for hotel stays (Malaysians top with 92% and Japan lowest with 79%).

• 28% use ONLY the web to plan their hotel stays.

So, what else?

Further details are to be released by Google over the course of the next few weeks, but top-line data shared in Kaisharis's presentation include:

• The majority of consumers say they often consult at least four channels when research a trip, including online travel agencies, travel agents, over the phone with suppliers and face-to-face recommendations (friends and family).

• 14% say they are "overwhelmed" by the amount of travel information on the web.

• 34% actively look for social recommendations and feedback on ideas via social networks such as Facebook and TripAdvisor (curiously, no mention of Google Plus).

• 44% are watching videos about a destination during the research phase.

• 71% consider a personal recommendation for a trip "very important" in the decision-making process.

• 26% would like some kind of  "personalised consultancy" when researching travel products.

• 39% use a mobile device to plan a stay.

• 59% want to book travel products "whenever they can" and "wherever they can".

• 42% stated they the desktop computer far easier to book travel products than on other interfaces (not sure about the other 58%).

• 21% still do not trust mobile devices when paying for travel products.

• 19% do not like using a mobile device for searching and booking travel products because the connection speeds are often too slow.

You can see where Google is heading with this initial release of the study - highlighting what it considers to be some of the pain points affecting travellers in the wider search and booking of travel services.

Firstly, such has been the drive by travel brands to cram as much content in as possible into their web services that perhaps - in a world increasingly using devices to surf the web - that information overload is having a negative effect.

Also, as Kaisharis later states, if consumers are looking for more personal tips about travel, then he is probably right when he argues that the industry is "nowhere near that Amazon-style experience".

Unless, of course, a company that Kaisharis knows very well, with its own hefty influence on the sector, plays its own card, Amazon-style.

NB:Jumping mobile via Shutterstock.